MISCELLANEOUS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 62, 8 April 1870, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

A stranger visiting New Zealand, and remaining long enough to acquire a knowledge of our manners and customs (says the ' "Wellington Post') could scarcely avoid characterising us as the most unsocial and selfish people in the world. Each Province is so wrapped up in its own affairs that it seems quite indifferent to what its neighbors are about, except its actions- are likely in some way to affect itself. The most important social concerns of neighboring Provinces 'are passed unheeded; "they are cf no interest to U3," is the cry. Canterbury carries on important public works, and attempts great social reforms, in which latter particular she sets an example worthy of praise and imitation. ¥e don't care, it's not our business. Otago is developing goldfields which promise to excel the Thames in richness—we look on with the utmost apathy. We hear of the scarcity of labor m some places to such an extent that the crops are left rotting on the ground—well, let them rot. °We shall never get on while this state of things continue. We must begin to lo<e this isolation, to forget Provincial distinctions, and to consider ourselves one people, if we mean to occupy that position among the Australian colonies' Nature has afforded us the means of filling.

Mr. Miller, assayer in the Sydney Mint, has called attention (says a con- ! temporary) in a pjiper read before the Boyal Society of iSew South "Wales, to the singular fact that the purity of the gold found on the various diggings be-tween-Ballnrat and the farthest route north of Queensland, deteriorates as the degrees of latitude diminish. In the southern fields of Victoria the gold is almost absolutely pure, while at Maryborough, in Queensland only 85 per cent, of the ore is gold. The greater part of the residue is silver, and it has become a matter of importance to discover some simple and certain means of parting the two noble metals. This is accomplished by passing a current of chlorine gas over or through the melted metal. The chlorine and the silver unite, and the product, although volatile, is retained by a covering of borax. By the same process brittle gold is toughened, and rendered fit for coinage. _ ,

c In an article oil the future prospects of 7 New Zealand, the ' Nelson Colonist' says: —In economical or practical importance, New Zealand is inferior to no other part of the globe. Her mineral treasures may be said 'to be inexhaustible. Her water power is enormous. Her happy climate is well fitted to raise a race of hardy and enterprising men; and her soil is adapted to every variety of production. She is, in fact, rich in all that constitutes the natural prosperity of a country. It would be difficult.to, exaggerate the inof such, advantages, when we [reflect how much man's, progress de-

pertds on the envtaisiances amid which his lot is cast, and that man can double the gifts of nature. A more striking instance of the advances that may %& made when locality is propitious, per 9 haps could not be cited than that which is presented by the history of the Australasian colonies. It is only about eighty years ago since a fleet of eleven sail, comprising her Majesty's frigate Syrius, an armed tender, three store ships, and six transports, sailed .from England ior the purpose of founding at Sydney the first English colony in the Southern Hemisphere. Thirty years ago there was not a single town in New Zealand. But to-day there is both in Australia and New Zealand a rate of progress such as the world has never before witnessed. Centuries have beeu crowded into decades- what the people of the old world toiled for ages to win, has become the birthright of Australasia, The states and cities of its youth may be compared not unfavorably with those of the mature age of Europe. So true is Humboldt's remark:—The mor"e full the world is of ideas, the more rapid its progress. If, then, there be any faith in the continuity of nature ; if

Watching the -wheels of Nature's man' plan, We learn the future from the past of man, we inay infer that New Zealand prssesses within herself resources capable of indefinite expansion; that she trill yet become the home of advancing millions, helping the world onward in its progress, and conferring fresb power . to fulfill the noble destinies of human life.

Happy days. Roll onward, leading U p the gulden year! •The 'St. Catherine's Times'(Canada)., says—The gool effect of the reception given by the .citizens of Toronto -to Prince Arthi» has been somewhat marred by the s&ameful and prolonged inebriety of ?"\ John A. Macdonald, whose conditio* during the visit of tbe royal party Toronto, is a public disgrace and serial During the dejeuner given the Premier was so overcome by the effects of a protracted debauch, that be was obliged to be removed from the room, and conveyed to a cab. " W'hatis the value of the boots stolen by the prisoner?" "Twelve and sixpence, your worship." "Six months' imprisonment with hard labor." And so the unfortunate hungry wretcb waa carried off to durance vile. " "What is the total amount of the insolvent's liabilities ?" asks the placid commissioner. "Only £1500," responds the official assignee. " Any creditors oppose the certificate ?" " Xo, your Honor," again replies the official, with a satisfied smile, " the assets merely covered tbe Court charges, and as the creditors reside at" Elysium Plat, tbe distance is too great for them to appear in opposition." "Certificate grunted," remarks the commissioner." " Thank your Honor," drawls the newly whitewashed, and saunters to the nearest hotel, where, over half-a-dozen sparkling No. 2, he imparts to one or two of his boon companions his projects for re-starting business On a more extensive scale than hitherto. "And thus," observes tbe 'Ararat Advertiser/ from which we have quoted the foregoing, the world goes on. Petty larceny committed, let us charitably .suppose to save a family from starvation, is met with the stern frown of offended justice, and a bitter expiation must be made; while gigantic robberies made in the broad light of day are taken nnder the law's protecting wing.